It's quite possible that I'm your third man girl
But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son
It's quite possible that I'm your third man girl
But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son
And right now you could care less about me
But soon enough you will care, by the time I'm done
Let's have a ball and a biscuit sugar
And take our sweet little time about it
Let's have a ball girl
And take our sweet little time about it
Tell everybody in the place to just get out
And we'll get clean together
And I'll find me soapbox where I can shout it
Yeah
Read it in the newspaper
Ask your girlfriends and see if they know
Read it in the newspaper
Ask your girlfriends see if they know
That my strength is ten fold girl
I'll let you see if you want to before you go
Let's have a ball and a biscuit sugar
And take our sweet little time about it
Let's have a ball
And take our sweet little time about it
Tell everybody in the place to just get out
We'll get clean together
And I'll find me soapbox where I can shout it
Yeah I can think of one or two things to say about it
Ah listen
Yeah it's quite possible that I'm your third man
But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son
It was the other two which made me your third
But it was my mother who made me the seventh son
Right now you could care less about me
But soon enough you will care by the time I'm done
Just wait
Stick around
You'll figure it out

87 Comments

General CommentYou are all wrong! There is slang used throughout this song and it is drug referenced. A "ball" is slang for an 8-ball of cocaine. A "biscuit" is slang for a pressed cake of crack and sometimes refers to a pill of ecstacy. (Most likely X because of the slight machismo in his lyrics.) This is why he says "Tell everybody in the place to just get out
We'll get clean together." Dig Deep people. Think.

I completely agree. Ball= 8 ball.
Biscuit (in these days) is referring to X. Disco biscuits in the 70's (as someone mentioned earlier) were "ludes", but in the last ten to 20 years, they became ecstasy.
None the less, this song is soulful, sexy as hell, and one of my very favorite Stripes songs.

General CommentI love how The White Stripes tend to keep the guitar rifts and drums beats plain and simple and allow ou to really focus on the lyrics... I really feel as if the importance of lyrics in songs has been lost by most artists in recent years.

My OpinionRandom thought that I have every time I hear this song.... while I totally agree that it's probably just about sex, I can't help but examine this one part:

"Tell everybody in the place to just get out
And we'll get clean together
And I'll find me soapbox where I can shout it "

I always wonder if the reference to 'getting clean' is actually about quitting drugs (or just stopping the party life). In order to do this, the speaker would have to get rid of people/places/things that they used/partied with ("tell everybody in the place to just get out"). Getting on the soapbox to shout about it would make sense, as the speaker would be proud of themselves -- and maybe acting a bit 'holier-than-thou' after getting their life cleaned up.

General CommentBeing the seventh soon is a blues reference used a lot as being the seventh son is supposed to be special (I read it somewhere ages ago, but I can't remember why).
It's just a coincidence that Jack is also the seventh son, and being a worshiper of the blues he'd definitely slip it in.
Other than that, whether 'ball and biscuit' is a microphone name which the White Stripes tured dirty or not, this song is one hundred per cent sex. You don't even need the lyrics, you only need to hear that riff. It's a very very sexy riff.

General CommentDerrhey!!! Guys, ever hear of Quaaludes?? In the 70's they were called Disco Biscuits see... so this song is a basic sex invite... having a ball... ya know? Let's have a ball and a biscuit.. let's have a quaalude and fuck. ;)

General CommentJack says the ball & biscuit reference is to a recording microphone, though as its phrased in the song, it can't be anything more than a novel reference to sex.
The "seventh son" is a reference to the fact that Jack is indeed, the seventh son.
The second verse, the "read it in the newspapers" bit seems to confront Jack's sudden fame, and how he is well known.

I always thought that the term "ball" related to doing the deed (60's term) and a "biscuit" was grabbing something to eat, hence lets have sex and grab some dinner or something along those lines .. "let's have a ball girl and take our sweet time about it"